Page 93 - Sothebys Fine Japanese Art London, November 2018

THE PROPERTY OF BARONESS THYSSEN

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A MAGNIFICENT PAIR OF IMPERIAL The sweeping reforms in Meiji period society brought far
PRESENTATION LACQUER TWO-FOLD reaching changes to the production and display of art. With
SCREENS the dissolution of the samurai class, traditional patterns
MEIJI PERIOD, LATE 19TH CENTURY of patronage gave way to new outlets. Metalworkers who
had previously made sword fittings now turned their skill to
SIGNED MAKIE-SHI YASUI HOCHU NO IN making objects for no other purpose than aesthetic display.
[YASUI HOCHU (1857-1922)] AND SEALED Art and craft began to be taught in colleges and art schools.
SHIBAYAMA World fairs such as the Vienna International Exposition of
1873 and the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition attracted
扇散蒔絵象嵌屏風 二曲一双、明治時代、19世紀後期、銘 蒔
絵師安井抱中之印、芝山（印） large numbers of visitors and stimulated markets for
Japanese works of art. In 1870, the Department for
the finely decorated two-fold screens each with four framed Industry (Kobusho) was established to develop the arts
panels, four in shibayama style to the front, four in togidashi for export, followed by the Tokyo School of Fine Arts in
to the reverse, all framed with various chrysanthemum 1889. A new vogue for Western-style decor in the Victorian
mon in gold hiramaki-e on a black ground, the corners and mode particularly seen in the domestic furnishings of
sides with gilt fittings hammered, chased and engraved the Imperial Household prompted Japanese artists and
with chrysanthemums, each front panel comprising five craftsmen to produce a new range of objects. Magnificent
open fans and three closed fans on one panel and two on screens such as this pair were among this demand.
the other, all framed in gilt and silver metal edging, the fans Yasui Hochu (1857-1922) began to study lacquer in 1868 under
depicting cranes, a carriage, egrets, wild flowers by a river, Uematsu Homin (1846-1899). A contemporary of Shibata
pines in mountainous landscapes, ducks among reeds, Zeshin (1807-1891) and the carver Ishikawa Komei (1852-
chrysanthemums, all inlaid in mother-of-pearl and stained 1913), Yasui Hochu became an independent artist in 1878,
ivory and decorated in gold and silver hiramaki-e, takamaki-e, working for the Seikosha and Kiryu Kosho Kaisha companies.
kirigane, kimpun, heidatsu, gold foil, mura nashiji on kinji and
fundame grounds all inset on a gyobu nashiji and black ground, Yasui Hochu and Ishikawa Komei collaborated with other
the two large panels above a smaller panel with ho-o birds artists to make an important shodana [cabinet] decorated with
in very fine shibayama style inlay, the reverse panels in iroe deer, probably exhibited at the National Industrial Exhibition in
togidashi with egrets among reeds above panels of paulownia 1890. He exhibited two works at the Japan-British Exhibition,
all framed in the same manner as the front London, in 1910. In 1920, Yasui Hochu participated in the
(2) decoration of the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo.
each panel: 189.5 x 85.5 cm, 75 x 33⅔ in.
W £ 500,000-700,000
€ 565,000-790,000 US$ 660,000-925,000

FINE JAPANESE ART 91